Tag Archives: The Rust Maidens

So. It’s here. My debut novel, The Rust Maidens, has officially made its way into the world!

*twirls and twirls and twirls in endless circles*

First off, I want to share the gorgeous Daniele Serra cover art again. Because it is seriously just so beautiful, and I’m still in awe of it. Behold…

*twirls again in circles*

It goes without saying, but tremendous thanks to Trepidatio Publishing for bringing this book to life. As often happens with novels, The Rust Maidens went through a couple iterations before at last arriving in its final stage of metamorphosis, and I’m so grateful to have been able to learn so much about the process of writing and editing a novel with Trepidatio. It’s been a wild ride for sure, and one I’m so thrilled to have taken.

So I guess I should probably put up links to where you can find this alleged book, right? Okay, here goes…

In case you haven’t gotten enough of The Rust Maidens yet (and I hope you haven’t because I won’t be keeping very quiet about it), I’ve got a number of interviews coming up over the next few weeks, so stay tuned. Obviously, I’ll be my usual loquacious self and be yelling from every mountaintop about the novel.

So my debut novel, The Rust Maidens, is due out later this year from Trepidatio Publishing, which has me way too giddy for words. And you know what else has me giddy? The fact that the cover is officially here and ready to be revealed!

Drum roll please!

The cover is illustrated by British Fantasy Award winner Daniele Serra, and I’m so swoony over it. The artwork absolutely captures the strange desolation of the novel, and seriously, look at that creepy factory and lonesome Rust Maiden! I’m one very over-the-moon writer right here!

It’s been a busy few months, and as these things often go, I’ve sadly neglected my beloved blog far too much this year. That being said, I have updates—several of them, in fact—so let’s get to it, before a shiny, writerly object distracts me again, and I wander off elsewhere.

The Rust Maidens
First and foremost, I have a novel coming out this year! My debut novel, as it happens! And it’s getting some press, too! The Rust Maidens recently appeared on a horror lineup list for Library Journal’s July cover story, and this inspired several people to tell me they didn’t even know I had a novel coming out. So yeah, I should probably work on promotion a bit more. Let’s give it a whirl now, shall we?

The Rust Maidens is forthcoming from Trepidatio Publishing, an imprint of JournalStone, and to be honest, Becky Spratford at Library Journal had a much more succinct synopsis for it than I’ve been giving, so here’s her quote: “The Rust Maidens [is] a story told in two chilling time lines. In 1980 Cleveland, young girls are transforming into grotesque creatures right before everyone’s eyes, and in the present, a now-grown woman is coming to terms with her part in the horrific events.”

The release date has been updated for November, so if you’re a reviewer who’s interested in an advance review copy, let me know, as the arcs will be ready ASAP.

Look at that! I just properly promoted. This blog post is going swimmingly so far, right? (Please nod at home to keep me encouraged.)

Readercon
Next week, we’ll be heading up to Boston (or technically just outside of it) for Readercon! I won’t be there in any official capacity, which means if you want to find me, it will probably be best to check the gloomiest corners of the hotel. (I was going to say “spiderweb-filled corners,” but the convention is at a Marriott, so there likely won’t be nearly enough free-range spiders there for my taste. But hey, you can’t get everything in life.) Oh, and I bought a really glittery black dress for the occasion, one that can best be described as “Disco Goth,” so feel free to use that as a marker for locating me as well. Just follow the trail of morose sparkles!

Seriously, though, I’m really looking forward to attending Readercon, and I’m usually pretty friendly, in particular once I’ve had my morning coffee, so definitely say hi if you see me!

Forthcoming FictionOther than the upcoming release of The Rust Maidens, I’ve got some short fiction set to make its debut in the world very soon. Suspended in Dusk 2 will be out later this month and is already available for pre-order. In true stealth fashion, I managed to sneak my way into a stellar table of contents that includes Ramsey Campbell, Paul Tremblay, Sarah Read, Stephen Graham Jones, and Damien Angelica Walters, among others. My horror story, “An Elegy for Childhood Monsters,” follows two sisters who must fight off a creature who comes after them night after night in their room, and this one is truly among my favorites I’ve ever written, so I’m super eager to see it out in the wild!

Chiral Mad 4 will be out soon as well! It’s another completely fabulous table of contents, which includes my dark fantasy collaboration with Emily B. Cataneo, “In Her Flightless Wings, a Fire.” That novella is all about witchcraft, ballet, and the price we pay for pursuing our dreams. Once again, it’s crazy to be lucky enough to share the pages with so many luminaries of the genre, and I’m downright giddy for that release too.

I’ve got a couple other stories in the pipeline, though I’m not sure I’m authorized to discuss those quite yet, so I will go all secret agent now and tell you to stay tuned. So yeah, stay tuned! Semi-regular updates returning soon to this blog!

And that’s all I’ve got for now! It’s been an exciting summer, and it’s not over yet!

Yes, that headline is indeed true. Next year, I will be taking the big, thrilling jump into the novel world with my debut, The Rust Maidens.

Seriously. This is going to be a reality.

As if having a novel isn’t awesome enough, The Rust Maidens will be released through Trepidatio Publishing, a division of JournalStone. After the fantastic process of putting together And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, I couldn’t be happier to work with both JournalStone and editor Jess Landry again. It’s an honor, a privilege, and a dream come true as a writer.

The Rust Maidens delves into all the horror territory I love best as a reader and writer. There’s body horror, there’s coming-of-age, there’s a bevy of girls who are monstrous and dangerous and incredibly powerful. It’s also at once a love note and a poisoned pen letter to my Rust Belt roots, both the good and the bad of my home state of Ohio. It’s a very personal story, and one that readers will hopefully find very, very creepy.

Anyhow, let’s get down to it with the official description for The Rust Maidens!

Something’s happening to the girls on Denton Street.

It’s the summer of 1980 in Cleveland, Ohio, and Phoebe Shaw and her best friend Jacqueline have just graduated high school, only to confront an ugly, uncertain future. Across the city, abandoned factories populate the skyline; meanwhile at the shore, one strong spark, and the Cuyahoga River might catch fire. But none of that compares to what’s happening in their own west side neighborhood. The girls Phoebe and Jacqueline have grown up with are changing. It starts with footprints of dark water on the sidewalk. Then, one by one, the girls’ bodies wither away, their fingernails turning to broken glass, and their bones exposed like corroded metal beneath their flesh.

As rumors spread about the grotesque transformations, soon everyone from nosy tourists to clinic doctors and government men start arriving on Denton Street, eager to catch sight of “the Rust Maidens” in metamorphosis. As the neighborhood withdraws from the attention and paranoia permeates the crowded split-levels, Phoebe and Jacqueline band together with the other unchanged girls, all of them as terrified they’ll be the next to change as they are terrified they’ll be the only girl left behind. But even with all the onlookers, nobody can explain what’s happening or why—except perhaps the Rust Maidens themselves. Whispering in their untrimmed backyards, they know more than they’re telling, and Phoebe realizes her former friends are quietly preparing for something that will tear their neighborhood asunder.

Alternating between past and present, Phoebe struggles to unravel the mystery of the Rust Maidens—and her own unwitting role in the transformations—before she loses everything she’s held dear: her home, her best friend, and even her own body.

So, yeah. This is real. As you can probably guess, you’ll be hearing much, much more about The Rust Maidens throughout the rest of 2017 and into early 2018 as we announce the official release date and reveal the cover. So keep an eye on this blog in the coming months for even more details! *squeals with horror writer glee*